Apparatus for the treatment of cinematographic films



APPARATUS FOR`THE TREATMENT OF CINEMATOGRAPHIC FILMS Filed May '7, 19242 Sheets-Sheet l Fg?. Z

a/ 1, 5w 8 A! GEORGES EUGENE LEFEBVRE by his AT TORNEY.

Sept; 15, 1925.

G. E. LEFEBVRE APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF CINEMATOGRAPHIC FILMSFiled May '7, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 74 GEORGES EUGNE LEFEBVRE IWVENTORmi by his ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. l5, 1925,. y

UNITED STATES l 1,553,903 PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGES EUGENE LEFEBVRE, oF JoINvILLE-LE-FONT, FRANCE, AssIgNoE To FATEECINEMA, ANcIENs ETABLISSEMENTS FATHE FRERES, oF PARIS, FRANCE.

I .APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT F CINEMATOGRAPHIC FILMS.

Application led May 7,

To all Iwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGES EUGENE LE- FEBVRE, citizen of the FrenchRepublic, residing at Joinville-le-Pont, Seine, 1n the French Republic,have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for' theTreatment of Cinematographic Films, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention has for its obJect a device for the development ofcinematographic films which comprises a main support formed of a rigidfra-me provided with guideways wherein movable cross-pleces havingrespectively an increasing width are adapted to slide, said cross piecesconstituting frames having successively a greater length and a greaterwidth, and upon whlch the film may be wound in successive turns spacedapart from one another.

The film carrying support thus formed may be disposed in a vessel ofsmall capacity in which the film is subjected to the action of thenecessary baths. yThe vessel is provided with a cover which alsoconstitutes a separate vessel and is provided with -a drain plug, saidcover being used for the operation'of Washing the film. To the cover aresecured two lugs in which rods forming a support may be engaged, saidrods supporting a horizontal spindle about which the film carryingsupport may be rotated during the operation of windingor unwinding thefilm.

The device according to the invention may be used with motion picture.films of all sizes as well as with photographic film bands, but its useis chiefly advantageous for small-sized film's handled by amateurs. Thisarrangement has numerous advantages, its construction is very simple,inexpensive, and its operation is very easy. Since a very great lengthof film may be wound in superposed turns, without any contact lbetweentwo turns of film the vesselv in which the support is disposed needs beonly of small size, whence a very appreciable economy in outfit andbaths is afforded. The various members are preferably made of nickel soas to avoid all corrosion by photographic baths.

ln the appended drawing which shows by way of example an embodiment ofthe invention: i.

Fig. l is a front View 0f the winding 1924. serial No'. 711,537.

support with al1 thev movable cross-pieces in place. In this figure themovable crosspieces and the film are only partly shown; some fragmentsonly of the film are in place, so as to facilitate the explanation ofthe method of' winding.

Fig. 2 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. i.

Fig. 3 is a side view.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on A-A, Fig. 1; the film is sho-wndiagrammatically'in position.

Fig. 5 shows, with parts broken away, the support disposed in the vesselwhich is fitted with its cover during the operation of development.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the cover of the vessel with itsremovable supports.

As shown in the drawing, the device on which the film is wound comprisesa frame formed by two U-shaped memlbers 1 and 1a connected bycross-braces or cross-pieces 3 and 3, preferably also of U-shape. Thesemembers constitute guideways Jfor the movable cross-pieces 47 4, 5, 5a.On the member l is mounted a frame 6 of rigid metallic wire, the widthof said frame being about equal to that of the vessel in which thesupport is Ito beinserted. The member l also carries a frame 6a which isexactly like the zframe 6. The members l and la are each provided intheir middle with an opening 2.

The cross-pieces 4, 4, 5, 5 are made of a sheet of metal properly cutout and bent; the ends of each cross-piece are provided with lugs 7adapted to slide in the guideways formed by the members l and la; theheight of these lugs is such that when resting upon the lowercross-piece they will maintain the cross-pieces spaced apart from eachother.

The cross-pieces 4 and 4 areI interchangeable, their width being greaterthan that of the fixed cross-piecesI 3 'and 3. The cross-pieces 5 and 5aare also interchangeable, and their width is greater than that of' thecross-pieces 4, 4x1 but is less than that of the guiding frames 6, 6.

All of the fixed and movalble cross-pieces are provided with equallyspaced studs or projections 8 cut out of the sheet metal of thecross-pieces and turned up. Further, the cross-piece 3* carries a hookor claw 9 to which Ph@ @ed Q the 5.1m may be attached at the beginningof the winding operation whilst the two cross-pieces 5, 5a have eachfour projections 10 to one of Whiclr may be attached the other end ofthe film, according to the length of this latter.

The support may be inserted into a developing vessel 1l whose dimensionsin height, length and widthv correspond to the like dimensions vof thesupport. This vessel 11 ma be covered by a cover 12 which may also beused as a washing vessel and is provided to this end with an adjustabledrain plug 13.

The cover 12 carries, on one of its faces, lugs 14 in which one end ofrigid rods 1.5 (Fig. 6) may be engaged, said rods cons tituting asupport for the spindle 16 which extends through the holes 2 in themembers l and 1a so as to uphold the film carrying support while at thesame time allowing the rotation of the latter, thus greatly facilitatingthe operations of winding and unwinding of the film.

The operation of mounting or winding of the film on the support isperformed in a dark room lighted by a non-actinic light. The fourmovable cross-pieces 4, 4, 5, 5 are first removed by sliding them out ofthe guideways of the support. To the outer vessel 12, laid flatwise, arefixed the holders 15, and the support is placed on the spindle 16, asshown in Fig. 6.

The reel of exposed film contained in the cinematographic apparatus, orin a storage box, is then removed from the said apparatus or box, carebeing taken to maintain the outer turn in a well pressed position so asto prevent any unwinding of the film. The end of the film is attached tothe support by inserting the claw or hook 9 of the crosspiece 3a intoone of the perforations of the film, the sensitive face of the latterbeing preferably turned towards the exterior. The operator then holdsthe reel of film between the thumb and forefinger so that it may turn onthese two digits, and gives a rotary motion to the support. The film isthen wound as tightly as possible upon the support, care being taken toplace each turn between two guide-studs 8 to prevent any contact betweentwo adjacent turns of film.

When the support 1, la 3, 3a is entirely filled with film, i. e. whenall the spaces between the studs 8 of the cross-piece 3a contain a partof the film, the operator inserts into the guideways the narrow movablecross-piece 4 upon which the film is then applied, and this will holdthe said crosspiece in position; after giving half a turn to thesupport, the operator places the like cross-piece 4a in position, andcontinues to wind the film upon these cross-pieces 4 and 4 in the samemanner as upon the crosspieces 3 and 3, taking care to hold the windingtight. 'T'

lit will be observed that, in order to obviate all crossing of the filmon the support, it is quite essential, before putting the crosspiece 4in position, to leave the last section of flic cross-piece 5 free offilm and to wind the film on the first section-of the crosspiece 4;after the following half turn of the support, the film is not woundeither on the first section of the cross-piece 4, ln this manner thereis no apprehension that the film will be crossed, which would reduci`the distance between the layers of film and might cause the adhesion ofthe turns upon drying.

When the second layer has been wound on the cross-pieces 4, 4a, the twowide crosspieces 5 and 5l are inserted, and the film is wound upon thesame with the same precautions as for the winding upon the crosspieces4, 4*.

When the film is entirely mounted upon the support, its end is fastenedon the support by placing a perforation on one of the studs l() providedon the cross-pieces 5 and 5*.

When the film has been thus properly wound upon the support, the latteris inserted into the vessel 11, in which the developer has already beenplaced and the cover 12 is put on the vessel 11 (Fig. 5) the room cannow be illuminated with ordinary light while the development is beingcarried on. The succeeding operations are performed in the usual manner,and the necessary baths can be placed either in the vessel l1 or in thecover l2, the support being placed successively in the proper baths.

The film is dried upon the support, and when quite dry it can be removedfrom the support by winding it progressively in a bobbin.

Obviously various constructional modifications may be brought to thedevice above described without departiincr from thc scope of theinvention. In particular, the number of movable cross-pieces may be asdesired, provided these cross-pieces are successively of increasingwidth, the last cross-piece having a width which is less than that ofthe metallic wire frames 6, 6".

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an apparatus for the treatment of picture films the combinationwith a rigid Jframe of guide-ways provided on said frame, andsuperimposed cross-pieces of various widths slidably engaging saidguideways, the width of said cross pieces increasing from the innercross-piece. to the outer cross-piece whereby said cross-pieces willconstitute removable concentric frames of various lengths upon which thefilm may be wound in successive turns spaced apart from one another.

2. In an apparatus for the treatment of picture films the combinationWith two side members and cross-members connecting said side member soas to constitute a rigid frame, of guide-ways provided on said sidemembers, superimposed cross-pieces of various Widths slidably engagingsaid guideways, the width of said cross-pieces increasing from the innercross-piece to the outer cross-piece, whereby said cross-piecesI willconstitute removable concentric frames of various lengths upon which thefilm may be Wound in successive turns spaced apart from one another,studs regularly spaced apart along the said cross-members and along thesaid cross-pieces for spacing the turns of film on one and the sameremovable frame, and hooks carried by said cross-members and by saidcross-pieces for attaching the tWo ends of the film upon the frames.

3. In an apparatus for the treatment of picture films the combination,with two side members and crossmembers connecting said side members soas to constitute a rigid frame of U-shaped guide-ways provided o-n saidside members, superimposed crosspieces made of bent sheet metal andhaving various widths, said cross-pieces slidably engaging saidguideways, the width of said cross-pieces increasing from the innercrosspiece to the outer cross-piece, whereby sai-d cross-pieces Willconstitute removable concentric frames of various lengths upon which thefilm may be Wound in successive turns spaced apart from one another,studs regularly spaced apart along A said crossmembers and along saidcross-pieces for spacing the turns of film onto-ne and the sameremovable frame.

4. In an apparatus for the treatment of picture films the combinationwith a rigid frame, of guide-ways provided on said frame, superimposedcross-pieces of various widths slidably engaging said guide-Ways, theWidth of said cross-pieces increasing from the i-nner cross-piece to theouter crosspiece, whereby said cross-pieces `will constitute removableconcentric frames of various lengths upon which the film may be Wound insuccessive turns spaced apart from one another, and a vessel for thetreat- -ing bath into which the said frame carrying the film wound uponthe same may be inserted.

5. In an apparatus for the treatment of picture films the combinationwith a rigid frame, of guide-Ways carried by said Jframe, each guide-Waybeing provided in its middle with an orifice, superimposed cross-piecesof various Widths slidably engaging said guide-ways, the width of saidcross-pieces increasing from the inner cross-piece to the outercross-piece, whereby said cross-pieces will constitute removableconcentric frames of various lengths upon Which the film may be wound insuccessive turns spaced apart from one another, and a spindle adapted tobe inserted through said orifices of the guide-ways and transversallywith respect to the frame.

6. In an apparatus for the treatment of picture films the combinationwith a rigid frame, of guide-Ways carried by said frame, each guide-Waybeing provided in its middle With an orifice, superimposed crosspiecesof various widths slidably engaging said guide-ways, the width of saidcrosspieces increasing from the inner cross-piece to the outercross-piece, whereby said crosspieces will constitute removableconcentric frames of Various lengths upon which the film may be wound insuccessive turns spaced apart from one another, a spindle adapted to beinserted. through said orifices of the guide-ways and transversally withrespect to the frame, a vessel for the treating bath and into which thesaid frame carrying the film wound upon the same may beinserted, andlugs carried by one face of the vessel and adapted to be engaged by thesaid spindle for supporting the same together with the frame.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGES EUGNE LEFEBVRE.

